hi playground friends!I don't know if there's already a thread about this, but I looked and couldn't find it. I am hosting a baby shower in few weeks for a friend, and I am interested in having it be a fun thing, not a lame thing. It's going to be coed... in the afternoon... about 3 hours long. Any suggestions are most welcome!!thanks!

I have never been to a baby shower and mine isn't until next week but the one thing that I thought was an awesome idea was having a bunch of onsies and paint markers for people to design for the baby. Mine is also going to be coed and its going to be a potluck so people can be well fed and it doesn't cost a ton for the hostess. Most of the atendees are either vegan or know I'm vegan so I'm not sure if there will be anything nonvegan there but I don't care if there is really.

yay for onesie decorating. That sounds fun! Also, different sizes seems like a very good idea. What's a good place to get cheap onesies? Maybe Target.

Also, littlebear, I love the idea of lots of sweeties. I was joking that we could make a bunch of different foods and then just puree everything and serve it in tiny jars. Somehow, my friend didn't go for that.

This is a bit hokey, but I really liked it.My friends printed off sheets that had A-Z with a line after each letter. Every guest was given one, and they put a piece of birthing/parenting advice on each line that started with that letter. (example: "Always give out hugs" for "A") People really got into it. At the end of the day, they bound it for me and now it's sitting on my bookshelf.

It was so neat to see the different responses, such differences in generations and beliefs. Some of it really is silly, but it's a nice, heartwarming silly.

Dollar tree sells the same 100% cotton onesies as Target, at least locally. They're plan white with like green, blue, and pink trimmings as choices. (I forgot what brand it was, it wasn't the dollar tree brand, it was like Hanes or something)

This is a bit hokey, but I really liked it.My friends printed off sheets that had A-Z with a line after each letter. Every guest was given one, and they put a piece of birthing/parenting advice on each line that started with that letter. (example: "Always give out hugs" for "A") People really got into it. At the end of the day, they bound it for me and now it's sitting on my bookshelf.

It was so neat to see the different responses, such differences in generations and beliefs. Some of it really is silly, but it's a nice, heartwarming silly.

This is amazing! I love the idea of shared wisdom <3 and what better way to feel connected to your guests!

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

yay for onesie decorating. That sounds fun! Also, different sizes seems like a very good idea. What's a good place to get cheap onesies? Maybe Target.

Also, littlebear, I love the idea of lots of sweeties. I was joking that we could make a bunch of different foods and then just puree everything and serve it in tiny jars. Somehow, my friend didn't go for that.

more ideas welcome! thanks!

I'm not sure about local Dollar Trees (though that sounds like a good suggestion!), but I've seen packs of them go by at Ross on occasion.

I am so scared for my shower. I have never been to one and my mother in law seems to think we'll need to rent a venue to house all the people she wants to invite...luckily my best friend is going to veto that and keep it nice and simple. I hope they do cute things for me like the stuff you guys have listed :)

I'm going to be the odd one out and say I hate the onesie decorating. I've been at showers where people did this and they all looked awful, or people deliberately wrote dumb stuff on it. It just seemed like a waste of onesies.

I'm going to be the odd one out and say I hate the onesie decorating. I've been at showers where people did this and they all looked awful, or people deliberately wrote dumb stuff on it. It just seemed like a waste of onesies.

I could see that happening, especially if there is alcohol involved (which still puzzles me...alcohol at a baby shower???)

Yes, actually I totally know what you mean. Once at a baby shower people decorated quilt squares, but many of them were also pretty ugly... Because people were justifiably enjoying being at the party, and not really focusing on doing something special. But, nonetheless, so far it's our best idea, so that's where I'm at. Will keep plotting.

I can't remember anything I liked, besides presents, at my baby shower. They did the whole string/guessing how big the moms stomach is but I became a huge bisque and took the strings and measured women that were making fun of me for being so fat. They did something where they wrote down my reactions from the presents and then made a story of my first time with my husband? All sorts of awkward because it was all inlaws there. My sis is throwing one and so far I think we're just going to eat a few dozen vegan cupcakes. My type of party.

One thing my friends and I always do for any type of shower is present bingo. You make up bingo cards with items the person is likely to get and have the guests mark them off as she opens things. First one to get a bingo wins a prize. It keeps people engaged during the present opening, which can get kind of boring otherwise.

We did the onesie thing at a shower I threw my friend (also coed, a new year's brunch, yes with alcohol) and I thought it was a blast and I think the other guests enjoyed and the preggo of honor appreciated it. Some of the onesies came out absolutely gorgeous, it's amazing how talented you discover some of your friends are! And even if they don't, well, they can always be used as underwear or around the house. My friend appreciated that I got a few different sizes and a couple of brands (by coincidence), which have slightly different sizing. That way, her daughter always fit into something. It was a good icebreaker because people's designs really reflected their interests and hobbies.. and we got like 25 different color markers so that people had to talk and swap to get the colors they wanted.

I started with 0-3 month size, and also got some 3-6, 6-9, and 9-12 monthers. I had a fairly small baby (6lb14oz) and the gerber onesies are small enough that she still fit into those right away despite most other 0-3m clothes being huge on her then. I saved boxes for a while and used a craft knife to cut out cardboard inserts from them for the onesies so the marker ink wouldn't soak through.

One thing I didn't do, but thought about and kind of wish i had, was to do the advice thing on cards and collect those in an album with photos from the shower...but instead of the kind of serious, good advice normally given for this, I was going to have an "unsolicited and uninformed advice from your childless friends" theme and have the whole thing be more as a joke than anything else.. My friend was the first one of any of us to have kids, and my friends tend to be kinda silly when they do that sort of thing anyway, and plus what kind of advice are single guys going to have?

My friends had a quiz to fill out with questions about them, and whoever got the most right won. But two guys won and the prizes were ELF kits from Target, so...make sure they're gender neutral prizes.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

When I threw my sister a shower, we played a game where you had to diaper a doll (well its supposed to be a doll, but we used teddy bears as I have a plethora) one-handed while holding a martini. We did it like a relay race, and if you spilled from the glass you had to start over. It was ladies only, but for prizes I just made a "prize wall" and you could pick out your own. Nice stuff too, like fancy candy and candles and body butter and bubble bath. We also had a baby food tasting guessing game. Prunes, yum!

When we threw one of my friends a baby shower, we had a baby shower cliché bingo, to poke fun at young (expecting) mothers who discussed nothing but babies. It had steriotypical babytalk items like 'diaper rash', 'my doula says: ....', 'carrying baby in a sling', 'story about a friend of a friend who had the worst experience giving birth ever' etc. The person who had bingo first had to yell BABYYYYYYYY across the room and won a bouquet of sunflowers, I recall.

But then again, my friends and I make cliché bingo's for just about anything. (Seriously, best thing ever for not taking life too serious.)

I have to throw my sister a baby shower in a few weeks and she loves all the lame, cheesy stuff. And my brother's super cheesy fiance is helping me. I'm tempted to link to her pinterest to prove my point. This is going to be torture!

I've only been to one baby shower (for my SIL) and it super sucked - it was at a restaurant and we were all sitting so nobody really got to talk.

I had a blessing circle which was super awesome (and co-ed). Everybody who came brought some piece of written wisdom or a blessing for our family (some also brought lullabies) and then they went around the circle and said or sang their piece and put a wooden bead on a string. At the end, I had a string full of beads that I wore during labor and the blessings and lullabies all went into a binder. My husband was bawling at the end of it.

I like the onesie idea. Perhaps some cute stencils placed strategically around the shower area would be handy for those who aren't artistically inclined. I'm not an artist, but I could use some stencils.